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I am a 58yr old woman. My hair is falling. A hair doctor has put me on to MINOXIDIL TOPICAL SOLUTION USP 2% HAIROUSE-MX. 1ML 2 X DAILY along with multivitamin tablets. I have been on it since 45 days. But to know more about this solution i googled it. To my surprise i found out that this solution should only be used by men, not women. Secondly,when stopped hair falls again.

What should i do? i am worried. I dont want to use it for the rest of my life. How do i stop it and being a female using this, am i harming myself? Please help.

2% minoxidil is sold as Women’s Rogaine, 5% minoxidil is sold as Rogaine (for Men). It is the only medication that is FDA approved for treating female hair loss. Some doctors may prescribe the stronger minoxidil (5%) for women, but that is on an individual case by case basis. Besides, it looks like your doctor put you on the 2% anyway.

You do need to use it for life if you want to continue seeing the benefits, and stopping it will result in a disappearance of any benefits you saw from it. In 45 days, you probably didn’t notice too much of a difference, if any. You should talk to your doctor about your concerns.

Propecia (finasteride) is only for men, so perhaps you’re confusing the two medications.

My Mother had triple bypass in August 22, 2011. She has had alot of hair loss. She has done well from the surgery but this bothering her. Can this be from the meds that she was given to put to sleep?

I’m not sure which medications she’s taking, but stressful surgeries can certainly cause hair loss. Most of the time this will reverse in a year or so. Just wait it out.

Snippet from the article:

Women make up about 40 percent of Americans experiencing hair loss, according to data from the American Hair Loss Association, a California-based organization dedicated to educating and improving the lives of those affected by hair loss. Despite growing concern among women, hair loss is still often considered a male issue, but there are signs that women are no longer willing to suffer in silence.

Read the rest — Hair loss common in women of all ages

The article talks about female hair loss treatments, and acknowledges that the options are unfortunately more limited for women than they are for men.

We’ve written before about the many possible causes of female hair loss and the tests one may undergo to help determine the cause.

Hi,
I am a 55 year old female that had hair grafts and was not informed not to use hair conditioner.

Can you tell me if I used Ovation Cell Therapy a month after my hair grafts if this would have caused any damage to my hair from prior grafts? I started losing a lot of my hair in my temple area from previous hair grafts. I have had four (4) hair restoration surgery’s over a period of 7 years and started losing hair after using Ovation Cell Therapy. I really only want to know for my own peace of mind.

Thanks in advance for you help and please advise

I am unfamiliar with the side effects of Ovation Cell Therapy. It looks like it’s a shampoo/moisturizer treatment, and I wouldn’t expect it to cause damage to transplanted hair. Have you talked to your surgeon? Do you have a possible allergy to any of the ingredients?

I am a 48 year old African American female. I am diabetic. I also relax my own hair. For a while, the hair on the sides of my head has grown considerably, but the hair on the top of my head had not. Is this indicative of any particular condition? Thank you for your help.

You may have chemical damage from relaxing your hair, or genetic hair loss…. or something else entirely going on. There are a variety of possible causes for hair loss in women (see here).

Without seeing you, I can not tell much. Make an appointment with a good doctor/dermatologist who will give you an opinion.

Snippet from the article:

Androgenetic alopecia affects both men and women. In men it produces male pattern hair loss with bitemporal recession and vertex baldness. In women it produces female pattern hair loss (FPHL) with diffuse alopecia over the mid-frontal scalp. FPHL occurs as a result of nonuniform hair follicle miniaturization within follicular units. Diffuse alopecia is produced by a reduction in the number of terminal fibres per follicular unit. Baldness occurs only when all hairs within the follicular units are miniaturized and is a relatively late event in women.

The concepts of follicular units and primary and secondary hair follicles within follicular units are well established in comparative mammalian studies, particularly in sheep. However, discovery of these structures in the human scalp hair and investigation of the changes in follicular unit anatomy during the development of androgenetic alopecia have provided a clearer understanding of the early stages of androgenetic alopecia and how the male and female patterns of hair loss are related.

Read the full abstract — Hair loss in women: medical and cosmetic approaches to increase scalp hair fullness

This is an interesting article published in the British Journal of Dermatology (December 2011) which covers the subject of hair loss in women. The recommendations in treatment suggest early medical intervention with drugs like spironolactone, minoxidil, and finasteride. When the hair loss becomes advanced, hair transplants work well if the hair in the occipital area (donor area) remains relatively unaffected by the process found in the balding area. The article also suggests women should use camouflaging agents to help give the appearance of thicker hair. There’s nothing particularly groundbreaking in here, but it’s a good overview.

Based on our experience at NHI though, unfortunately the donor area is often not spared in the woman with advanced balding so that the number of good candidates are limited. We have found that if the donor area has significant miniaturization, transplanting this hair to the thinning area often fails to give full benefits. Many women aren’t surgical candidates for this reason.

I am 30 yr old female and have been experiencing frontal hair loss. What is the best way to hide the scalp? - toppik, easibang, anything else? Does toppik have any side effects or does it damage hair/scalp?

Many people use Toppik, as it has no side effects. There are a variety of topical camouflaging agents that work well, but some people will try out a few and stick with their personal preference.

You should get a diagnosis and be examined by a competent doctor who does this type of work. You may be a good candidate for a hair transplant if the hair loss is only frontal. Women are usually not the best hair transplant candidates, but seeing a good hair transplant surgeon for a consultation would be the best way to figure it out.

I have recently been diagnosed with hypothyroidism, and I have started eltroxin. I have also been suffering from FPB since the last 8-9 years. Is eltroxin likely to cause a TE to people who is predisposed, like me? When is this hair loss noticed, and can it be prolonged? Can anything be done to contain it?

There is an association between taking Eltroxin (levothyroxine) and hair loss, particularly in the first few months of taking it. You need to take this complication up with your doctor. It’s worth noting that hypothyroidism itself can cause hair loss, too.

This woman lost her eyebrows after multiple skin cancer surgeries. She had one procedure of 95 grafts into the eyebrow area. She told me that she cuts her new brows short every other day, and absolutely loves the results.

Click the photos below to enlarge.

Before on left / After on right:

Hi. I’m a 22 year old female. My hair is pretty thick but I’ve been going through kind of increased shed period. I’m mostly worried because I’ve been shedding some hairs that range from an inch to about three inches and then I have my normal length shed. I don’t have an extensive family history with genetic balding and I’m pretty healthy. I guess all I want to know is a few short hairs normal? I shed at max 7 of those hairs a day but usually less.

I would think shedding about 100 hairs a day is normal, long or short. Most of those hairs you likely don’t notice (they blow out in the wind, fall out as you walk, etc). Your hair cycles may not be coordinated and that would produce variable length hair. This is the first time I’ve really thought about that, but it would make sense from what you told me.